Update: I was unfortunately not aware of Shamus Young's severe criticism of Fallout 3 available here to link in the original piece and I regret that. It dovetails rather nicely with what I've written and it's much better executed than my piece. I strongly recommend anyone...

GAMING NEWS

Rockstar Toronto Developing Next-Gen Open World Game

Many who watching today's gameplay trailer for Grand Theft Auto V have come away from it with mixed feelings as many are disappointed that this game will be current-gen instead of next. While it's possible that Rockstar will port the game to the next-gen consoles eventually, it seems that their other studios are already working hard on open world games for the next generation.

Last year, Rockstar San Diego had a job posting for developers for an open-world project, suggesting that it could be another Red Dead game. Now it seems that Rockstar Toronto is also working on an open world game for the next-gen.

Rockstar Toronto has only collaborated on game projects in the past, but the studio merged with Rockstar Vancouver last year, the studio that created Max Payne 3. MP3 may have been a linear experience, but the job listing that PlayStation LifeStyle found asked for experience with "large open-world environments." Another listing with the same studio for an environment artist says that the position includes working with next-gen consoles.

On LinkedIn, a popular networking site for outing such unannounced games, has one developer at Rockstar Toronto claiming to be working on an untitled projects with numerous open-world features:

Designed and implemented populations with behaviors.Worked with programmers to update tools for development needs.Maintained scripts to only execute procedures when mission conditions were met.Designed and requested art assets for populated areas for interaction and immersion.